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'Monster mega-dune' threatens homes

Sand has begun to encroach on this home at 1807 Chatham Ave. on Tybee Island's Back River.

Richard Burkhart

The dune rises from the Back River to nearly the same height as the second-story of two homes located along the 1800 block of Chatham Avenue on Tybee Island.

Richard Burkhart

Sand has begun to pile on the porch of this home at 1807 Chatham Ave. on Tybee Island's Back River.

Richard Burkhart

Sand has begun to encroach on this home at 1807 Chatham Ave. on Tybee Island's Back River.

Owners of three beachfront homes on Tybee Island want permission to move a sand dune that's threatening to move in with them.

Over the past two years the dune has traipsed landward in Tybee's Back River area and grown to more than 20 feet tall. It's now slouching over porches and patios of the houses at 1805, 1807, and 1809 Chatham Ave.

"Nobody knew quite what to do," said Courtney Flexon, who grew up spending summers at one of the houses. "We're very conservation-minded, and normally you don't screw with sand dunes."

Last winter, nor'easters blew sand in off the beach.

"Now we have this monster mega-dune," Flexon said.

At its meeting Friday in Brunswick, the state's five-member Shore Protection Committee is scheduled to review the request for a permit to reconfigure the dune.

Department of Natural Resources staff members will recommend the permit be issued, said Ann Thran, permit coordinator.

Previous human intervention fed sand to the dune, Thran said. In 1995, three rock groins were built seaward of the homes to provide a more stable beach.

A subsequent beach renourishment program placed sand in the groins. Sand fencing was also placed to capture wind blown sand.

Homeowners asked for these engineering fixes - an irony that's not lost on Chandra Brown, the Ogeechee-Canoochee Riverkeeper. She filed comments criticizing the request to move the dune.

"Now there's enough sand to protect these structures, and they want to remove it?" she asked. "As a watchdog, I had an obligation to say something."

But Thran and others don't see the situation as controversial.

"DNR is not just going to let sand gobble up the livingroom," Thran said.

The Tybee City Council approved of the sand moving proposal in December.

"Although I'm always nervous about interfering with our sand sharing system, the houses in question are literally being swallowed by sand," said council member Kathryn Williams.

Clark Alexander, a professor of coastal geology at Skidaway Institute of Oceanography cautioned that this situation is unique. The remedy should not be applied generally to what's been dubbed "nuisance sand" in an attempt to move sand from one place to another on Tybee.

"If sand isn't serving a useful purpose, that doesn't mean you should move it to a place you think is better," said Alexander, a former member of the Shore Protection Committee. "It's a natural system. It isn't going to do what you like. And it may be doing something you don't know about."

The applicants want to use a small backhoe and tractor to reduce the dune to about 12 feet high, its size about 15 months ago. The proposed plan includes removing about 1,400 cubic yards of sand from the most landward dune and relocating it seaward.

New sand fencing will be installed and maintained seaward of the newly restored dune. The new dune will be planted with native vegetation and irrigated to ensure planted and natural vegetation regenerate.

That work, which the applicants will pay for, is expected to take one week to complete. An initial estimate put the work at about $10,000, Flexon said.

Stuart Sligh, an environmental consultant hired by the homeowners, said the project would restore sand to the public beach.

"The last thing they want to do is disturb a natural dune system, but this is not natural," he said.